NOWRUZ i. In the Pre-Islamic Period Nowruz, “New Day”, is the holiest and most joyful festival of the Zoroastrian year….

FESTIVALS i. ZOROASTRIAN Zoroastrian festivals fall into two broad categories. There are the seven feasts of obligation, that is, No…

FARŌḴŠI, the name of a Zoroastrian ceremony for departed souls (Av. fravaši-, q.v.), also called Farošīn (Av. genitive plural fravašīnąm-),…

EṢṬAḴR (ESTAḴR, STAḴR), city and district in ancient Persia (Fārs). i. History and Archaeology. ii. As a Zoroastrian Religious Center….

Bibliography: J.-P. Digard, Techniques des nomades Baxtyâri, Cambridge and Paris, 1981. L. Dupree, Afghanistan, Princeton, N.J., 1978; repr. Princeton, N.J., 1980. i….

DIASPORA, Iranian. See also DEPORTATIONS. i. In Pre-Islamic times. ii. Persians in India. iii. Persians in Southeast Asia. iv. Persians…

DHABHAR, BAHMANJI NUSSERWANJI (b. 1869 in Navsari, d. 1952 in Bombay 1952), eminent Parsi scholar of Bhagaria stock. He received his…

DEATH among Zoroastrians. At death among Zoroastrians the body is swiftly disposed of (see CORPSE), but rites for the soul…

DARMESTETER, JAMES (b. Château-Salins, Alsace, 12 March 1849, d. Paris, 19 October 1894), the great Iranist, was the son of…

DAR-E MEHR, a Zoroastrian term first recorded in the Persian Rivāyats and Parsi Gujarati writings. Its use in the former…

DAMASCUS, Zoroastrians at. The earliest evi­dence for the presence of Zoroastrians at Damascus is provided by Berossus, who stated (Jacoby,…

DAHM YAZAD, the Middle Persian name of the Zoroastrian divinity (also known as Dahmān Āfrīn and Dahmān) who is the…

DADYSETH ĀTAŠ BAHRĀM, the oldest Ātaš Bahrām of Bombay, consecrated and installed according to Kadmi (see dadyseth) rites in the…

DADYSETH, Dadibhai Noshirwanji (1734-99), a distinguished Parsi philanthropist. His given name was Dadi, -bhai being a courtesy addition, Seth a…

DADYSETH AGIARY. In 1771 c.e. Dadibhai Noshirwanji Dadyseth established an agiary (see ātaškada) with an Ādarān fire for the sake of the…

CORPSE, disposal of, in Zoroastrianism. In Zoroastrianism the corpse (Av. nasu-, Pahl. nasā) of a righteous believer was held to…

CLEANSING i. In Zoroastrianism Cleansing is conceived as a cosmic and individual activity is an essential element in Zoroastrianism, which…

CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONS (MPers. ruwānagān lit. “relating to the soul”), pious endow­ments to benefit the souls of the dead, as specified…

CHĀNGĀ ĀSĀ, an eminent Parsi layman who lived in the 15th-16th centuries a.d. at Navsari in Gujarat. In a passage…

CATTLE. The word “cattle” has no precise equivalent in Iranian languages, in which bovines are commonly designated by the words…

BĪBĪ ŠAHRBĀNŪ, the dedication of a Moslem shrine on a hillside by Ray to the south of Tehran. The legend…

BHARUCHAS, the name of a group (panth) of Parsi Zoroastrian priests who had their headquarters at the ancient port of…

BHAGARIAS, the name of a group (panth) of Parsi Zoroastrian priests. Sometime after the Parsi settlement at Sanjan (q.v.) in…

ĀBĀN YAŠT, Middle Persian (Pazand) name of the fifth among the Zoroastrian hymns to individual divinities. It is the third…

ĀBĀN, Middle Persian term, “the waters” (Av. āpō). In Indo-Iranian the word for water is grammatically feminine; the element itself…

ĀBĀN MĀH, the eighth month of the Zoroastrian year, dedicated to the Waters, Ābān. From the 5th to the beginning…

ĀB-NĀHĪD “Nāhīd of the Water,” a Zoroastrian woman’s name, first attested in the poem Vis o Rāmīn (sec. 9, line….

ĀB-ZŌHR “offering of water,” the Middle Persian form of a Zoroastrian technical term, Av. Ape zaoθra. Currently, the Irani Zoroastrians…

ĀB “water.” i. The concept of water in ancient Iranian culture Zoroastrians, it has been said, could as justly be…

IRĀNŠĀH, the term now used by the Parsis as the name of their oldest sacred fire, the Ātaš Bahrām (q.v.)…

HUŠT, a Zoroastrian-Persian term of unknown etymology, designating the area (in known practice a town-quarter, a village, or a group…

HUMATA HŪXTA HUVARŠTA, three Avestan words which encapsulate the ethical goals of Zoroastrianism. In form verbal adjectives, meaning “well thought,…

HŌŠANG (Hōshang) JĀMĀSP, a distinguished Parsi scholar-priest (b. 26 April 1833 in Navsari; d. 23 April 1908 in Pune). He…

HAOMA, the Avestan name for a plant and its divinity, MPers. hōm, Sogd. xwm, Pers. and other living Iranian languages…

HAOMA ii. THE RITUALS YASNA Haoma yields the essential ingredient for the parahaoma, Pahl. parahōm, the consecrated liquid prepared during…

HAMKALĀM, a Zoroastrian-Persian adjective meaning “of the same word.” It is a hybrid compound of Persian ham “together, of the…

HAMĀZŌR, a Zoroastrian-Persian adjective meaning “of the same strength” (< OP/Av. hama-, AirWb, col. 1773, and OP *zavar-, AirWb, cols...

HADIŠ, the Avestan name of a minor Zoroastrian divinity, glossed in Pahlavi (tr. of Visprad 1:9) by Mēnōg ī xānag…

GŌSĀN, a Parthian word of unknown derivation for “poet-musician, minstrel.” It was evidently much used, since it was borrowed into…

GŌMĒZ (cow’s urine), a Pahlavi term which renders Av. gaomaēza- and gə̄uš maēsman- (AirWb., cols. 483, 1108). Urine, with its…

GŌDARZ, name of various Iranian historical figures; an Iranian epic hero in wars against the “Turanians” in northeastern Iran; and…

GANZAK (Ganja, Gk. Gazaca, Lat. Gaza, Ganzaga, Ar. Janza, Jaznaq), a town of Achaemenid foundation in Azerbaijan. The name means…

GĀH, a Middle Persian, Parthian, and New Persian word meaning either “place” or “time.” i. Place. ii. Time.   i….

GĀHĀNBĀR, Middle Persian name for the feasts held at the end of each of the six seasons of the Zoroastrian…

FRAWARDĪN YAŠT (New. Pers. Farvardīn Yašt), the thirteenth of the Zoroastrian yašts (see AVESTA), devoted to the fravašis. It is…

FRAVAŠI (OP *fravarti, Pahl. fraward, frawahr, frōhar, frawaš, frawaxš), the Avestan word for a powerful supernatural being whose concept at…